Ascend Integrated Media - Custom Matters Blog

Make Better Decisions in the Workplace

Ashley Puderbaugh — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 20:20:13 +0000

By Maria Arnone, Vice President, Media Development

Do you ever have to hold yourself back from the momentary freak out at work? Like a situation with an exhibitor, a vendor or a colleague where you felt like blowing your top? Or maybe you’re always feeling guilty about stuff? Like when you’re faced with competing demands on your time, making you decide who to please and who to diss.

Emotions in the workplace can be rough. But here’s the good news: It’s actually valuable — and somewhat rare — to feel passionate or guilty about choices in the workplace. A recent post by Harvard Business Review’s Gretchen Gavett bemoaned Gallup's research on employee engagement. Among U.S. workers, only 30 percent are actively engaged. This means seven out of 10 people are either "checked out," or actively hostile toward their employers. Seven out of 10. So when you really care about something, be it an internal or external issue, you’re already a more finely tuned instrument for your organization. But how do you handle it?

It turns out there are strategies to soothe your soul and make better decisions in the workplace. One of the most powerful is 10–10–10.

The basic tenant of Suzy Welch’s book, 10–10 –10 is this: For every seemingly important situation, ask yourself, “Will this matter 10 minutes from now? Will this matter 10 days from now? Will this matter 10 years from now?”

This thinking puts powerful perspective to the everyday small annoyances we all experience. It brings a longer view into daily life. Have a board member who wants you to attend an off-site meeting on the same day as an all-hands-on-deck association planning session? Been asked to user-test the new system at the same time as an important client visit? Been directed for the millionth time to backtrack a piece of paperwork that someone else mishandles?

Weigh the options and see which choice you make will be more relevant in the future. And most importantly — is the decision not worth living and dying by? One thing for sure is it’s not worth freaking out over things that won’t matter 10 minutes from now.

What to Do When It Goes Wrong

Ashley Puderbaugh — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 15:03:47 +0000

By Rebecca Harp, Project Director

Ever messed up? Been held accountable for a mistake that you or your company was or wasn't personally responsible for? How did you handle it? Did you use the experience as an opportunity to strengthen the personal and professional relationships around you? Here are some tips to ensure you handle the situation well, should you ever land in the hot seat.

1. It's more important how you think about the problem than the problem itself.
How well you respond to the wrong is key to maintaining the relationships in question. If handled well, partnerships actually can become stronger by a fixed problem than before the problem.

2. If a client is involved, enlist them for ideas and feedback on the solution.
Your client may have resources you may not be thinking of to put toward the solution. Last year we were part of a mishap involving both a client and a valued supporter. Together with our client, we worked hard on the best resolution for the supporter. A few months later as we were reviewing the situation with the client, the client relayed that their relationship with their supporter was now stronger than ever. They attributed it to the supporter's enhanced trust thanks to the way the fix was handled.

3. Focus on the solution first and who is at fault second.
But, don't deflect the blame if it’s yours to be had. Remember the BP oil spill? A great takeaway from that PR mishap comes from Timothy Coombs, who teaches public relations at Eastern Illinois University. He provided this sound-bite for Slate, "Companies should take the fall and work out recriminations behind closed doors." The same Slate article provides another relevant example: "When Taco Johns had an E. coli outbreak, it didn’t publicly blame the lettuce supplier. It took responsibility. And, of course, sued the lettuce supplier later."

4. The cost of the fix is always a factor.
How big is the problem? It may warrant a more strategic investment to preserve the relationships at stake. Or, can you address the fix with current resources if everyone rolls up their sleeves and gets a little dirty?

5. Communicate, communicate.
As soon as it makes sense, let the relevant parties know of the wrong and how it is being handled. Let them know in detail the efforts you are making to fix the problem. When it comes to sharing the “why” of what went wrong, only provide information that you know to be accurate. Some good advice comes from Larry Smith of the Institute for Crisis Management: "Don't speculate. If you know, say so. If you don't know, say you don't know." After all, we all have an innate sense of whether someone is being authentic with us or is shading the truth for their benefit.

6. When possible have a designated communicator that is committed to accurate reporting.
This prevents the potential for perceived “truth-shading” — when a different person relays the same event in their own words. Even if the meaning is intended to be the same, using different verbiage can introduce different meaning and therefore a perception that the recipient is not getting a full or accurate picture of the situation.

The way a wrong is handled will ensure the injured party's best interests have been taken to heart rather than the injurer's bottom line. A side benefit is that you will have the opportunity to showcase you and your company's character, integrity and resourcefulness under tough circumstances.

Taking your website into the future

Ashley Puderbaugh — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:59:56 +0000

By Maria Arnone, Vice President Media Development

Remember the first website you were involved in launching or supporting? Seems like forever ago, doesn’t it? Since those heady early days of website development, you’ve probably been focused on developing more action-oriented marketing efforts on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, content marketing through blogs and the like.

You might have recently heard the term “responsive Web design” floating around — what’s that? Is your website hopelessly outdated? Well, here are a couple of updates on websites to keep in mind from a marketing perspective for the next tweak to your association site:

Responsive Web design connects you to members
Responsive Web design means creating a website to respond to people’s browsing preferences. And those preferences are increasingly mobile. In fact, there are about 2.1 billion mobile Web users around the world, according to a 2013 study by MobiThinking. That’s 29.5 percent of the global population.

A growing number of these users never browse the Web on a laptop or desktop computer. According to the same study, 25 percent of mobile users in the U.S. are mobile only — meaning they rarely ever browse the Internet on a desktop or laptop computer. Now, that may not describe your typical member, but you can’t argue that it’s a trend that will impact your future membership’s browsing preferences. You need to start thinking about it today.

Your Web designers are surely learning about techniques of responsive design right now: They’re learning how to format content on pages designed and scaled to view beautifully and legibly whether on a tablet, smartphone or desktop monitor.

Your job as the developer of this content in your organization is to remember that for every new tool, feature and opportunity you’re giving your audience, envision them using it on the go, with different devices. Start adjusting your image of your member tied to a computer. It will help you connect better to them.

Mirror me, please
Wired.com recently featured a blog by Ryan Tate where he proposed that a re-emphasis on websites in company marketing plans is due to new tools that control exactly how they speak to customers, aggregating and highlighting valuable social media content. “This technology is fostered by new interlinks that make it increasingly easy for websites to suck in and selectively repurpose some of the very social content that diminished the open web in the first place,” he says.

So the presenting of this social content gets organized, prioritized and showcased front and center on the ole website. Instead of the website giving a clunky sales pitch, it’s sold by prominent members who are discussing association benefits in other environments.

Tate calls this “mirror marketing,” a term Sam Decker coined. Decker, whose company Mass Relevance helps businesses like Patagonia and HBO sift and repurpose social streams on their own websites, explains: “…We hold the mirror up to the audience and they respond to it. You know when the camera in the football stadium shines on some people, and they stand up and say, ‘Look at me, look at me?’ You just got engagement and participation. And that’s exactly what we’re doing, we’re playing back their own participation in the brand experience. That’s what you can do with owned media, with a website.”

If these ideas seem very futuristic, they’re not: They may be a little slower to hit the association world, but they’ll come. Making sure content is presentable to as wide an audience as possible, and using the best results of your social media effort can be effectively integrated into your plans.

Are you implementing either of these strategies? Tell us about it.

Cheers to 30 Years

Ashley Puderbaugh — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 17:19:07 +0000

By Tricia Walsh, Vice President, Media Development

We recently celebrated a colleague's 30th anniversary at Ascend. Kate Hegarty, our vice president of operations and production, has literally worked at Ascend since the first day we were formed as a company. In today's business environment, 30 years as a company is exceptional — but 30 years of service with a company is truly rare.

Kate has passion, knowledge, experience, ideas — and a natural talent to help everyone succeed. I feel honored to learn from Kate each day. (And her memory is exceptional. Ask her the details of a publication we produced 22 years ago and she will recite the city, the venue, the client's name and more. Amazing!)

Kate is just one of the thousand reasons why I am proud to work at Ascend. Our internal staff meetings are so full of energy and idea-generation — it is inspiring to be a part of the creativity. Each person is passionate about his or her individual piece of our clients' projects and the energy is contagious. We start off on one path of discovery and by the end of the meeting we have developed new solutions, new approaches and in many cases, new publications for our clients.

I am proud to say that we also have long tenure with our clients — many for more than 25 years. Our team often has worked for our clients longer than our actual contacts have. We routinely are asked to recall facts and figures about our clients' business from so long ago that not even they have the answers. We are considered a valued part of their team and an important resource for their company.

With the knowledge we have gained from these longstanding relationships — and the knowledge we have from our longstanding team members such as Kate — we have a unique vantage point to offer ideas and solutions to associations and event organizers. In my role as media development, I have the privilege of talking with the top minds in the meeting planning industry as we discuss unique solutions to some of their most pressing challenges. Ascend can: increase revenue, increase ROI to exhibitors, increase membership, decrease cost. It's what we do for our clients. All day. Every day. For the last 30 years and for the next 30.

When working with Ascend, yes, you will work with a friendly group of personable, inspiring and talented individuals. That said, be assured that we know our No. 1 goal as your business partner is to meet your objectives, exceed your expectations and conduct ourselves as an extension of your team. We take our work very seriously and will work each day to earn your business.

Now, back to celebrating Kate's anniversary — I won't share Kate's congratulatory "all-employee Harlem Shake" video beyond our own walls, but I will share this corporate video which also portrays the fun-loving, energetic passion that our Ascend team shares. Enjoy!

10 Principles of Great Leadership, Ahem … Great Communications

Ashley Puderbaugh — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:17:53 +0000

By Darren Sextro, Vice President Media Sales and Marketing

Businessman Jamie Dimon, current chairman, president and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, recently wrote about the hallmarks of good leadership. His 10 principles have application to the individual as a leader. They also work, when manipulated just a bit, as principles of a sound communications or marketing strategy. "Leadership is an honor, a privilege and a deep obligation," he writes. The same holds for how you communicate with your membership and audiences.

1. Discipline: How often are you reviewing how and what you're communicating? Be "constantly striving for improvement," Dimon advises.

2. Fortitude: Do your communications efforts demonstrate that yours is an organization that takes action, that drives change, that takes ownership and responsibility?

3. High standards: Do you compare your efforts to the best? Do you treat your audience with the greatest courtesy and respect?

4. Ability to face facts: Are you transparent not only with your internal colleagues but also with your members, attendees or readers? Leaders "focus on what can be improved," he says.

5. Openness: "The best leaders kill bureaucracy … It can cripple an organization," Dimon says. The same principle applies to your communications strategy, which should be sharing, in touch with the audience, and open to multiple truth-tellers.

6. Setup for success: Are the right people making decisions that affect your audiences? If not, then what you're communicating is already tinged with failure.

7. Morale-building: Your audiences respect communications that address and fix problems, dealing "directly and honestly with issues."

8. Loyalty, meritocracy and teamwork: Your audience should find loyalty to your organization, not individuals within it. Meritocracy is achieved when the right people are at the helm of communications with your audience. And teamwork sometimes means achieving the best results for your organization and your audience all on your own.

9. Fair treatment: Treat every member, every attendee, every vendor, every subscriber properly and respectfully. Your collective purpose is to serve those audiences.

10. Humility: "Acknowledge those who came before." To paraphrase Dimon: The overall goal is to help build a stellar communications strategy, which allows you to do even more for your audiences.

What principles of a great communications strategy could be added to this list?

The Best Way to Predict Your Future Is to Create It

Ashley Puderbaugh — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:39:51 +0000

By Cam Bishop, CEO

The headline of this blog post is a quote from Abraham Lincoln. I came across it after the movie about his life last year. Stories about Lincoln’s life came out of the woodwork. One article that caught my attention was a listing of his top 15 most popular quotes.

“The best way to predict your future is to create it,” was actually No. 12 on the list. I think ranking these is a relative thing driven largely by one’s personal experience. For me, this quote would rank near the top. It is incredibly relevant for most people. And most companies. Our company here, Ascend Integrated Media, is no exception.

Writing here as humbly as I can, with my vested interests and all, Ascend has been doing some amazing things over the last two or three years in order to “predict its own future.” Frankly, we’re doing things we never even dreamed of four or five years ago. More than most professionals, other than those in the R&D labs of communications and technology companies, had even imagined just scant years ago.

How are we evolving? Let me count the ways:

Technology: Ascend has been fortunate in attracting an extremely talented team of digital and mobile media experts. We are experts now but were on the cutting edge of mobile apps, delivering our first for clients more than four years ago. Now, we’re on the cutting edge of tablet publishing. Check out some of our work developing books in tablet form in both English and Spanish for American Heart Association.

Creative content: Besides our core business of creating and publishing show dailies for 35 to 40 trade shows each year, as well as another 100+ exhibit guides, directories, planners and programs, the team has branched out to create amazing content for magazine and newspaper advertising, billboards, radio, video production and digital newsletters. Plus, Ascend now serves as a turnkey outsource custom magazine publisher for half a dozen clients.

Sales: Our team of 11 inside media sales specialists has moved light years beyond selling print ads in print publications. While that remains a critical staple of the business, the team has done amazing thing as we’ve helped our customers move to a deeply integrated media sales approach. The team has sold several million dollars in sponsorships for clients, several million dollars in digital advertising and nearly $5 million in exhibit booth sales for a half dozen customers. Just three years ago, we weren’t doing any of this.

New product development: Perhaps the most compelling way Ascend is predicting its own future is reflected in the research, development and launch of a totally new media brand called Ascend’s Golden Guide. This brand is owned and operated by Ascend’s talented team members. Check us out on Facebook and on the Web at www.ascendsgoldenguide.com today. Our magazine just made its debut in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area, and the tablet version is available on iTunes now. Soon, this brand will be coming soon to a city near you.

At Ascend, we have met the future and it is us. What an exciting time and place to be.

A special shout out from our Ascend team members and a thank you to our many customers, clients and friends who have allowed us to grow and develop alongside you, as your partner.

Empower Your Volunteers to Tell Your Stories

Ashley Puderbaugh — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:08:44 +0000

By Eric Jacobson, Vice President, Media Development

Last month’s National Volunteer Week, which ran from April 21 to 27, serves as a good reminder for nonprofit organizations to thank their volunteers for everything they do.

Did you take the time to thank your volunteers? Did you also remind them about how they can help you share your mission and tell your stories? If not, now is a good time to do so.

Almost everyone likes to tell stories. It is perhaps the most powerful way to effectively communicate. And, most people enjoy sharing. (We’re taught to share even as toddlers.) Plus, with smartphones likely in the hands of most of your volunteers, capturing pictures of volunteering activities has never been easier.

So, encourage your volunteers to share their engagement with your organization on their various social media websites. You could encourage volunteers to add your organization to their LinkedIn profiles and online resumes. Or, your volunteers could make a request via Twitter or Facebook to have their friends join in on your next fundraising event or service project. Perhaps they post a picture on Facebook or Pinterest of their volunteering at your 5K run.

The more sharing of pictures, the better when it comes to telling your mission and stories. Memory and retention research shows that people remember only about 10 percent of what they hear just one week after hearing it. However, this 2006 study reveals that retention jumps to 65 percent when a picture is associated with the key messages being delivered.

Additionally, as reported in Entrepreneur magazine’s April 2013 issue:

Articles with images average 94 percent more total views than those without.
Including a photo with an online press release increases views by 14 percent.

Therefore, ask volunteers to send you their photos so you can consider using those for your website, electronic newsletters, press releases and annual reports. Keep these in an electronic file for easy future access. Then, just remember to always publish proper photo credits.

With 64.3 million Americans volunteering approximately 7.9 billion hours a year (2011, Corporation for National & Community Service), that’s a tremendously large group of people who can help nonprofits communicate to a broader audience without adding staff or expense. Many of your volunteers already are taking pictures at your events, fundraisers, service projects, etc. They may just need a reminder about how best to share those images with you and via their social network.

What are the ways you encourage volunteers to share your mission and stories via social media?

Audience Development 101

Ashley Puderbaugh — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:45:14 +0000

By Amanda Marriott, Project Director

We all remember the movie quote, "Build it and they will come," but reality is that it's not always the case.

Wikipedia states, “The term audience development describes activity which is undertaken specifically to meet the needs of existing and potential audiences and to help arts [and cultural] organizations to develop ongoing relationships with audiences. It can include aspects of marketing, commissioning, programming, education, customer care and distribution.”

Audience development is a key component when launching any type of new product. People read and absorb information differently, and our goal should be to promote the product in as many different formats as possible. For a finite audience, the easiest way to develop a plan is to review all the available communication vehicles available to you, such as newsletters, websites, journals, magazines and social media. From there, you can build out a creative plan with multiple touch points. If you are building an audience or have a wide target market, you may consider additional advertising outlets such as industry publications, press releases, SEO, radio or TV advertising, billboards and more.

Don't be afraid to promote the same thing in multiple ways within a particular communication vehicle. The same message can be communicated with graphic ads, contextual links, editorial coverage, footers. The marketing plan also should begin before the product is available. Start by telling your audience that it's coming, tell them it's available and then remind them why it's a beneficial resource.

The final component is tracking the marketing results. Being able to identify spikes in usage or response will help you refine your marketing efforts and become more efficient with your budget and resources.

What ways does your company promote your products and services?

Storytelling Through the Final Four

Ashley Puderbaugh — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:56:22 +0000

By Rhonda Wickham, Vice President of Content

I love the NCAA basketball tournament. And it’s not because our office hosts a pool and I almost won the pot. I love it because it is a storyteller’s heaven.

As the games progress, there are countless compelling tales that emerge on a nightly basis. Cinderella stories, unlikely heroes and last-second heroics, heartstring tuggers, and huge upsets and surprises around every court’s corner.

Including the easily marked antagonists who delivered questionable officiating, the protagonists delivered buzzer beaters and races to the finish. Like most years, the 2013 National Championship games delivered a slam-dunk compelling story.

The same could and should be said of your annual meetings. Tell your stories as they progress during the week. Of course, you have the necessary and predictable headliners. But you also could have stories about those sessions or exhibitors who pull some rabbit out of their hats, dazzling suddenly standing room-only audiences.

Your members and attendees are just as ravenous for fascinating stories; why shouldn’t they be? Their professions are their passions. Cash in on that. Reveal those untold stories. Involve them in the unfolding events as they happen. Add the people perspectives. Give a behind-the-scenes view. It makes your event all the more memorable.

It’s what gets your audience talking to their colleagues about their trips to your meetings, just like a trip to the Final Four. It makes your event worth coming back to year after year.

Speaking of which, I can’t wait until next year’s March Madness. My colleague Emily beat me in the pool by one game. You can bet I’m coming back next year. Look out, Emily.

Making a Case for Dynamic Mobile Content

Ashley Puderbaugh — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:30:55 +0000

By Kellie Burdg, Digital Media Analyst

It seems that everywhere you look nowadays, people are tapping away on their smartphones; whether it’s an iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola DROID or any of the numerous other competitors in the smartphone market. In fact, smartphones are projected to outsell feature phones — for the first time — this year, according to research released by IDC.

Smartphones are not the only mobile devices seeing growth. Another IDC report shows that tablet shipments increased by more than 78 percent in 2012, and tablets are expected to outsell desktop PCs in 2013 and laptops in 2014. Tablet growth is projected to be nearly 49 percent in 2013, compared to smartphone growth at 27 percent.

With prices falling globally, more people are able to afford these mobile devices and have access to a multitude of content in the palm of their hands. One question remains: How do people decide what device to use?

We do know tablet usage is more common among men than women, with men aged 16 to 34 using tablets the most. On the social media side, smartphone users are more likely to access Facebook and Twitter, while tablet users access LinkedIn, Google+ and email clients with more frequency. Flurry Analytics reports that tablet users spend the most time on games and entertainment, while smartphone users are more likely to access social networking and utilities. Smartphone owners are using their devices more frequently, but tablet users spend more time per use on their devices.

With the increasing usage of both smartphones and tablets, businesses need to ensure their websites are accessible across all device and platform types. Website visits from tablet devices have nearly doubled from 2012, according to a study by Branding Brand, and orders from tablet users are higher in value on average than smartphone and desktop users.

While smartphones are clearly the most prevalent, tablet usage is quickly catching up. These devices are the primary platforms through which consumers receive mobile content. Businesses must optimize their customers’ experiences of their brands on these devices.